


VILE Rescue

by Annamaetion



Category: Carmen Sandiego (Cartoon 2019)
Genre: Adventure, Danger, Gen, Mystery, Rescue, Team Red, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:15:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 9,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26859553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Annamaetion/pseuds/Annamaetion
Summary: VILE isn’t above taking hostages and fighting dirty. They don’t want ransom however, they’ll settle for information...that, and bait for another trap for the troublesome Carmen Sandiego. Spoilers for season 3
Comments: 12
Kudos: 46





	1. Chapter 1

Hideo woke up in a confused daze, unnaturally groggy and in no small amount of pain. He had a headache, and felt slightly dizzy, but that really seemed like a faint issue in comparison with his overall situation.

It was  **_cold,_ ** to the point beyond a simple discomfort. The sort of cold that was going to end up seeping into his bones and robbing his core body heat after not too short of time. Soon enough he would be shivering uncontrollably if the temperature didn’t increase significantly.

He wondered vaguely if his breath would be visible if only there were slightly more light in the environment to illuminate it.

There was a distinct sound of a howling wind hitting a nearby window, which just further drove home the chilly temperature. He opened his eyes and stared up at a dimly lit rusty green metal roof, back to a bare and tattered spring mattress. 

He warily sat up on the mattress, which sat plainly on the floor without even a box frame. He looked around and saw the only other furniture was a dripping sink and decrepit commode that sat behind a slight wall outcropping.

One wall of his containment held a window much too tiny and high-set to consider escaping through, and the wall opposite was set with sturdy looking prison style bars across the whole length of it.

Slowly getting up from sitting, in deference to the slight throbbing pain of headache and his general dizziness, he carefully made his way to peer out of the bars. 

Across the hallway in the shadow, Hideo could just make out a pacing figure, similarly in a cell behind bars. He could faintly hear a muttering in what sounded like Spanish, and made out that the shadowed figure was rubbing their face in what looked like agitation.

Hideo took a steadying breath, hopefully whoever this was they were disposed to be friendly… and would also share a common language.

“Hello?”

The figure abruptly stopped pacing and jolted over to the bars.

“Oh thank goodness you’re awake!” A woman’s voice rang out in obvious relief, “When you were brought in here by those villains I had feared the worse. I only briefly saw you, and couldn’t make out whether or not you were still breathing.”

“I—think I must have been knocked out. I don’t remember anything of how I got here.”

“Those cowards also must have used some way of knocking me out, probably knew that I would put up a fight.” She huffed out an annoyed sigh, “They also took off my Luchador mask—” she broke off into what could only have been a few Spanish expletives, then shook her head agitatedly and continued on in English, “Apologies, are you alright all things considered?”

“I believe so, I’m not in any pain but I am getting rather cold.”

“You’re telling me. I’m used to a much warmer climate. Judging by the snow outside I’m no longer near Veracruz. Where were you, last you remember?”

“At a museum in Mexico City, I was accompanying several Japanese cultural masks that were being featured on display.”

“Ah, I had wondered about the accent. Well, we’re probably not in Mexico anymore...unless we’re on the snowy peaks of Popocatepetl I suppose. Other than that Mexico isn’t exactly well known for places with snow all year around.”

“Well, wherever we are, I hope we get rescued soon.”

“I’ve actually got a pretty good idea that they  _ want _ that somehow.”

“What… do you mean?”

“First tell me, is this rescuer possibly in a red trench coat and fedora?”

“... You have met her too then. It is not just her, I also expect a  _ compatriot. _ ” He said, then paused considering the two red-heads with very prominent Boston accents, “Or three.”

“You met one more than I did. Not sure whether I should be jealous or not.”

“I’m not sure we should discuss it further.” He cautioned, “The walls might have ears.”

“Very fair, but we can at least know the other’s names, I figure those who have us must know that at least. I used to be named Carlotta Valdez, but now I go by Lupe Peligro.”

“I am Hideo Nakamura, good to know you Ms. Peligro.”

“Please, feel free to call me Lupe. Is it okay if I call you Hideo?”

“Yes I—” before he could finish his sentence there was a loud clunk down the hall, and light flooded in.

There was a buzz as the overhead light flickered on, illuminating the hallway and cells enough for Hideo to see Lupe for the first time.

In walked a man in what looked like a full body uniform that reminded Hideo of Neal the Eel, but with more green. Most of his face was obscured by a helmet and visor.

“Well well, about time you woke up, I did wonder if they used  _ slightly  _ too much chloroform on you.”

Hideo did his best to school his face to a grim neutral expression, he didn’t want to give this vile man the satisfaction of a reaction.

Lupe snarled audibly, “ _ Chloroform?! _ ” 

The man turned to face her with a repugnant grin wide on his face, “If it isn’t the pauvre Luchadora.” he chuckled darkly, “Unmasked at last.”

Lupe grimaced, but grit her teeth and didn’t dignify the taunt with any further response.

“Oh the  _ silent  _ treatment. Tisk, tisk. What is this, primary school?” He laughed indulgently, “Well no matter, a night in the cooler ought to get at least  _ one _ of you in the mood to talk.”

Neither captive spoke. Lupe crossed her arms defiantly across her chest, with her posture best described as  _ looming.  _ Hideo remained stock still, straight-backed, hands folded behind his back.

“And... if neither of you are in the mood to talk then? Let’s just say; I  **_beat_ ** whichever of you I think knows the  _ least _ to see if the one who knows more will part with the information to spare the other.”

His smile turned more menacing, as he turned back towards Hideo, “For the record, right now you’re the guy who I think knows the least. Stew on that overnight.”

With that, he stormed out and the door closed with a sickening thud. Blessedly, the overhead hallway light remained on. 

Now that he could see more of his environs Hideo took a good look around. There were only the two cells, and the hallway, with the door down one end, and a giant screen at the other. 

The screen lights up suddenly, and now it displays the security footage of their two cells.

Hideo tensed, “So, conformation we’re being watched.”

Lupe growled in frustration, “That oaf,” more of what must have been Spanish expletives muttered under her breath, “If I ever get my hands on him!”

Hideo nodded in sympathy, “I am frustrated as well, but all we can do is hold strong.”

Lupe offered him a watery smile, “Not too good at patience, unfortunately...but being strong?” Lupe sits on the floor in a classic lotus position, arms still crossed, “Being strong is something I can do.”

Hideo offered a mirrored smile, copying Lupe and joining her in sitting in the lotus position, but with his hands folded in his lap. “I certainly believe it Lupe, if those who have captured us fought fair, they would not have ever taken you—of this I am sure.”

Lupe smiles a genuine smile this time, “You got that right Hideo.”

Nodding silently to the other, they both settle in for the long wait, perfectly content to offer their captors no further pleasure of listening in on them—lest they accidentally give the villains whatever information they’re looking for.

If they wanted information, they were going to have to try  _ a lot  _ harder than that.

  
  
  



	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We catch up with Team Red.

Carmen meanwhile was nearly apoplectic with worry. Agitatedly pacing up and down the plane corridor. 

They were on their way to Mexico, hoping that they might find some small clue in Veracruz or Mexico City as to where Vile had taken Lupe or Hideo.

Nobody was talking, each trying to keep distracted during the long plane flight, to varying degrees of success.

Shadowsan was trying his best to remain outwardly calm, but his clenched fists betrayed his anger.

Zach and Ivy were each coping in unique ways.

Ivy was retooling Carmen’s back up glider even though she’d just given it a full tune-up. 

Zach was trying to focus on a driving training simulation game on his handheld, but kept glancing worriedly at Carmen and Shadowsan. 

He especially emphasized with Shadowsan, he knew what it was like to have a sibling in danger. The Stockholm Caper is still vivid in his nightmares.

The tense atmosphere in the plane was further underscored by the faint sound of Player typing frantically on his keyboard.

Player, unlike the rest of Team Red, didn't have to wait for the plane to land to get to work...or wait for the plane to even be  _ chartered _ for that matter—since chartering the flight  _ was _ part of his usual mission workload anyway.

His work on this particular mission started the  _ moment  _ he’d received the ping from his computer at Lupe’s disappearance, and only intensified in scale once the alert was also raised on Hideo.

He’d long ago set idle algorithms to alert him if anyone who had significant contact with Carmen disappeared suddenly, and now said algorithms were worth their programming time in  _ platinum. _

Who knows how long it would have taken for their disappearances to be noticed on official channels otherwise?

It didn’t bear dwelling on. Fact was that Player was proving his ‘secret weapon’ status all over again.

One of the only reasons Carmen and Shadowsan were not more upset is that they knew that Player was working overtime to find Lupe and Hideo.

The other major one being the extensive VILE training on how to remain calm in difficult scenarios while on mission.

It was really too early to expect a solution, both Lupe and Hideo had only been off-radar for a few hours by Player’s reckoning—legally they weren’t even considered missing, not until after 24 hours. 

However, for them to be both  _ off-radar _ at roughly the same time was too much of a coincidence… and 24 hours was too long a time to wait to investigate.  **_Especially_ ** with VILE involved.

They all knew that largely what Player had to work with was just: the two VILE hard drives, a small damaged chunk of salvaged memory disk found underwater in the wreck of VILE island, and whatever encrypted VILE chatter he could scrounge up along the way.

Sometimes, what he could manage to do with just that seemed just short of miraculous; Team Carmen was hoping for another miracle.

Unfortunately, VILE had their own prominent hacker now, The Troll, who had done a considerable amount to hide VILE activities.

Having just briefly tangled with The Troll’s work on the Crown Jewel Caper, Player only had a rough idea of what he was capable of, so he was hacking even  _ more _ cautiously than usual.

They landed in Mexico City first, since Player’s intel suggested Hideo was snatched second. Hopefully, whatever clues they could possibly find would be fresher there.

It was a slim hope, but Team Red had worked on thinner leads before, and with only museum relics as the stakes. 

Shadowsan went immediately upon landing to go scour the hotel his brother had stayed at, while the rest of Team Red searched the museum for clues.

While they searched on the ground, Player continued his search on the World Wide Web. 

Looking through the internet carefully, combing through for any possible bread crumb.

Every minute they spent searching only intensifying the feeling of urgency.

All that time in Mexico City...and it had proved to be ultimately  **_fruitless_ ** .


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hideo and Lupe continue to cope, Shadowsan feels at wits end, but Team Red aren’t giving up yet.

Meanwhile, the only small comfort afforded to the two captives was that now the light was on they could finally see more than shadows. 

That, and now Hideo could confirm that however cold it was, he couldn’t see his breath. 

Hideo wasn’t completely idle while he sat and waited. He had roughly figured out where the otherwise well hidden camera was based off the angle of security footage being shown to them.

Glancing around impassively, trying not to make his observations obvious, he confirmed as far as he was able, that there wasn’t another similarity hidden camera elsewhere.

He was trying to work out if there were any blind spots, and seemingly the only vestige of privacy was when either captive used the commode. The slightly outcropping wall was  _ just _ enough to obscure that from the camera at least.

It was oddly humorous in a way. A slight honor even amongst criminals.

Maybe he wouldn’t find any use for this tidbit of information, but it was comforting to have nonetheless. 

Hideo settled back into a slight meditation, drawing on all his mental discipline to keep the feeling of cold at bay.

Lupe had long since unfolded her arms and now tapped impassively at her knees, her eyes closed she was distracting herself by humming under her breath.

A close look at her face betrayed her slight discomfort at the cold, as well as her continued annoyance at their captors.

Hideo felt a pang of sympathy for Lupe. At least he had  _ sleeves _ , and his pants went down full to his ankles instead of cutting off just below the knee.

Also, Lupe’s clothing looked to be highly breathable athletic wear. She had very little by way of external refuge from the cold. Hideo had the arguable luxury of his long traditional robe covering the majority of his person, having many layers.

Hopefully Lupe’s superior physique would prove more than adequate at negating those disadvantages.

The dripping of the faucet had long since faded into background noise, as Hideo focused on rhythmically noting the seconds.

He had a rough estimate as to how long he had been awake, at least 7 hours by his best guess, but he had no external way of verifying this guess.

What really unsettled him was the lack of light coming through either of the windows. From what he could see from his obscured vantage point, it had been either heavily overcast all day, or night time for an inordinately long time.

That, paired with the snow he could see coated most of the bottom of the small window, made Hideo wonder how far south they had been taken.

Certainly not all the way to the Antarctic? Though he couldn’t entirely discount the notion, Hideo found he dreaded entertaining the theory.

All they could really hope was that Miss Sandiego and her team would find them before they could be interrogated.

* * *

  
VILE had covered their tracks too well. 

They thoroughly searched, diligently going over both the museum and hotel, but no luck found them.

It was frustrating to no end to come up empty handed on the ground search. They resolved to head to Veracruz and try again at Lupe’s house.

Carmen set up her laptop on video call to Player on Lupe’s coffee table, VILE hadn’t even touched the trophies—probably not willing to draw any possible criminal investigation to Lupe’s disappearance as long as possible.

Player’s typing had paused, and Carmen could see that he was doing proper wrist exercises to prevent carpal tunnel. 

Shadowsan, however, didn’t see the laptop screen and misinterpreted the pause in the usual typing cacophony.

He yelled with barely restrained anger, “Player, why have you stopped,  _ we’ve not  _ **_found_ ** _ him yet!” _ Shadowsan roughly turned the laptop screen around to glare at a befuddled Player.

Zach pulled the laptop away, “Shadowsan he’s doing his best, he’s not taken a break from typing in  _ hours _ he’s going to get crazy wicked cramps or something if he doesn’t ease up a bit!”

Ivy backed up her brother, “Yeah or long term damage like carpal tunnel!” 

Shadowsan, for his part, looked horrified at his momentary outburst. Realizing now that he’d been yelling, and not merely at one of the  _ best people _ they could possibly have working on the problem _ … Player was a  _ **_child_ ** . 

Almost immediately after the realization of who he had just yelled at, Shadowsan dropped into a full Dogeza. Exactly like he had for Hideo when he had finally returned the samurai sword. 

Right to the floor in front of the laptop.

“I—there is no excuse for my loss of temper Player, I should be in more control of my emotions. I do not ask you to forgive me, I only beg your understanding.”

Player looked truly flabbergasted, if not a little bit embarrassed to be bowed to. “I totally forgive you Shadowsan, please there’s no need for…” he waived his arms awkwardly, “all that.” As Shadowsan sat up he continued, “I can’t even imagine the worry over a missing sibling.”

Zach sighed, “I can.” He said glancing significantly over at Ivy.

Ivy nodded, flashing back to when Zach had crashed Lydia at the pro race qualifier, “Yeah, me too.”

Carmen places a steadying hand on Shadowsan’s shoulder, “Hey, we all want to find Hideo  _ and _ Lupe for that matter. We’ll crack this.”

Shadowsan took a few deep inhales and slow exhales, clearly emotionally exhausted. “Thank you all for your understanding. Especially you Player, you did not deserve to be the target of my outburst.”

Player shrugged, then continued his wrist exercises, saying softly, “We’re cool, hopefully we’ll find the true targets of your ire soon.”

He wrapped up his wrist exercises and resumed typing, “I totally get that you’re frustrated, and it’s been a  _ long _ few hours. So I’m also frustrated with the seeming lack of progress. Not giving up though. Not even close.”

“You have my fullest faith Player.” Shadowsan replied simply, “I sometimes forget to thank you for all that you do for this team. You have my sincere thanks.”

Player blushed, but continued typing, “I’m doing a search for nearby VILE facilities, looking for the most likely to be where they’d take captives. Ones whose blueprints indicate holding cells or the like. Any insight as to what ones are most likely from a VILE perspective is more than welcome.”

Shadowsan nodded, “If I were to pick one that I know of from my time at VILE, the most tactical one would be on a small island off the coast of Antarctica.”

  
  



	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finding them is only part of a greater goal of rescue, but definitely an important and momentous part.

There was no way to be sure, but it certainly felt colder. Still not quite enough to see their breaths yet, but enough that they wouldn’t be able to help but to start shivering.

Hideo’s best guess is that he had now been awake for 10 hours, and it was starting to take its toll on him.

He knew that falling asleep would not be smart, it was best to keep the mind active in survival situations. Being alert was one of the best mental defenses from the cold.

Though Hideo feared that fatigue would overtake him soon enough if the temperature continued to slowly drop.

Hideo briefly dwelled on whether or not he should start composing his death poem. Though, he supposed he’d only be able to recite it to Lupe and he didn’t wish to place such a burden on her.

He wished that he had something to write with so he could at least write a note to Suhara, should the worst transpire. Hideo didn’t want Suhara to blame himself for the actions of others.

Briefly, Hideo wondered about Lupe. Did she have a family that would be worried over her? People she was thinking about and determined to see again?

He would ask, but doing so would break their unofficially agreed upon silence. Plus, he didn’t want to distress her by asking after a potentially stressful subject.

Then, out of the corner of his eye, Hideo spots something possibly concerning. The display screen showing the security footage flickered. 

Hideo glanced over to observe the screen nervously, wondering if he should draw Lupe’s attention to it or not.

Suddenly, instead of footage of the cells, there was now an icon of a white baseball cap sat on top of an upside-down black triangle.

“Lupe.” He said simply then indicated the screen with a slight tilt of his head.

Lupe glared at the screen, “What a strange symbol. Certainly doesn’t look like the sort of thing a criminal organization would have.”

“Indeed not.”

* * *

  
  


Player gasped, “I found them, looping security footage right now—though honestly I could use just a photo, they’re more stoic than statues.”

Carmen and Shadowsan both crowded on the couch right in front of the laptop, Zach and Ivy hovering excitedly behind.

Carmen cheered loudly, “I knew you could do it Player! Where are they?”

“Sending coordinates, probably going to have to charter a boat though—no airport. Small island off the coast of Antarctica. They’re in a holding cell inside a courtyard of a VILE site… something called ‘The Cooler”.”

Shadowsan gritted his teeth, “ _ The Cooler _ ?!” He clasped his hands over his knees to prevent clenching them into fists, “Tell me Player, are they visibly shivering?”

“No, or at least not that the camera can make out. I’ve got my hacker icon up on the screen—so they’re looking confused at the change. Lupe doesn’t look happy and Hideo just is, like —super stoic, a more defiant neutral expression I’ve never seen. It’s honestly impressive.”

Carmen leaned forward, “Is there any way to talk to them?”

“Working on that, the file notation of this facility is honestly  _ garbage… _ who labels the microphone function like a zip file and then buries it three folders deep? Hold on, I’ll switch the screen display to your video call display.”

* * *

The screen flickers again and suddenly a video of Miss Sandiego and Suhara appear, framed front-and-center on the screen, with the two red-headed siblings sitting to either side of them.

“Suhara!” Hideo called out happily, a smile stretching over his face for the first time in hours.

Lupe also cheered, “Carmen, oh thank goodness!”

Carmen looked back and forth at both of them. She asked gently, “Are you both okay?”

Lupe chuckles ruefully, “Other than missing my mask, and wanting to pummel the one who took it—I’m fine.”

Hideo looked at Suhara, hoping to soothe his obvious worry, “I am fine, cold but otherwise unharmed.”

Suhara let out a relieved breath, <“We’re coming to rescue you, please remain strong, brother.”>

<“I look forward to your arrival brother.”>

Lupe looked back and forth between Hideo and Suhara’s image on the screen, her facial expression said it all.

Hideo nodded, “He is my younger brother. I gather you didn’t meet him when you met Miss Sandiego?”

“No, just Zach and Ivy. Glad to see you two again as well.”

Both the redheaded siblings waived ecstatically, smiling widely. 

Carmen smiles, “Yeah, Shadow— er, Suhara” Carmen gestured to Suhara, “Well he was off dealing with another thing when we were in Veracruz.”

Hideo was definitely curious as to why Miss Sandiego had called Suhara ‘Shadow’ but he supposed it was a code name.

Carmen changed the subject, “Anyway, hang tight we’ll head out as soon as our transportation gets sorted.”

Zach spoke up, “I’m going to start packing up the stuff, so we can head out as soon as Player gets the boat chartered.”

Ivy nodded, “Good idea bro, I’ll help!”

Both of them got off the couch and disappeared from the video.

Lupe leaned forward, “I didn’t meet Player either, I’ve only heard you talk about them?”

Carmen said, “He’s our hacker. He works remotely, currently he’s securing us a boat… You want to say anything, Player?”

There was a slight pause, before a very  _ young _ sounding voice emitted from the speakers, “Yes, I just chartered the boat, it’ll be available to cast off within the hour.”

Player’s voice got softer, “Sorry, I couldn’t get anything sooner.” Player sounded sad, “Sorry it took me so long to find them.”

Carmen shook her head, “What matters is that you did your best.”

Suhara joined in on the reassurance, “Player, you are  _ one _ hacker against a whole organization of criminals. You found them,  **_thank you._ ** ”

Lupe agreed enthusiastically, “Sí Player, I cannot imagine that those who took us made it easy.”

Hideo didn’t really know much about computers himself, but was sure that the security of a secret villain organization must have a few different barriers to prevent people breaking in.

This thought is confirmed by Player saying, “40 layers of security—basically double of the last time I hacked my way through VILE.”

Carmen laughed, “One for every one of the 40 thieves. Wow that is  _ a lot  _ of security.”

40 walls of security. Hideo couldn’t help but be impressed, though he wasn’t exactly computer literate, he was aware that usually most viruses were stopped by just  **_one_ ** fire wall.

Player had managed his way past  **_40_ ** of them.

Hideo could only be impressed, “Indeed, it sounds like quite a feat.”

Player laughed, “Ooh, I just found another interesting feature in these files, which with a slight tweak——and now, for my next trick.”

There was a muted clunking sound as the floor began to slowly warm.

“The Cooler’s got a heating unit right under it, to keep it from being  _ lethally _ cold. I just jostled the program to hopefully make the ambient temperature more habitable.”

Lupe grinned, laying her full back onto the floor, “Player, you are my newest hero.”

Suhara’s worried expression had eased considerably at this development.

There was a pinging noise and Carmen's smile brightens even more, “There’s the confirmation that the boat is ready for us! Signing off for now.”

Lupe called out, “See you soon, be careful!” before the screen switched again.

Now there was the image of a small child, surrounded by softly glowing computer monitors in an otherwise poorly lit room, Hideo guesses he must be Player.

His voice confirmed this, “I wouldn’t be able to keep their end of the call up over the sea anyhow. Not enough coverage.” 

He twirled a pen between his fingers as he spoke, “Now it’s just a hurry-up and wait situation. Can’t do much more than keep the door closed if the bad guys come a-knocking. Once the team gets here, I lower the whole security to them and guide them through— what?”

Player was looking right at Hideo, who couldn’t keep the stunned look off his face.

Hideo couldn’t help but say, “All this, so much responsibility. You’re… a child.”

Player snorted, “I'll have you know I’ve been hacking for Carmen since I was  _ 12 _ .”

_ Twelve?  _ This stunned Hideo into awed silence. Here he had thought watching after Suhara at that age was a lot of responsibility to handle.

Lupe made an impressed noise, “I think at 12 I was finally allowed to cut my own hair for the first time.”

Player laughed, “Did the haircut at least turn out okay?”

“The less said about it, the better.”

Hideo ventured a question, “Just how did Carmen find and recruit you to fight criminals?”

“Oh well, actually  _ I  _ found  _ her _ .” Player smiles whimsically, “It’s a long story, but we’ve got time.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And then Player tells them all about Team Red’s various exploits, Hideo is a tad horrified that the four kids only adult help is his brother Suhara. Lupe is just super impressed and stans Carmen (and the rest of the team)


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The VILE agents at The Cooler are about to see that you don’t mess with Carmen Sandiego.

The fact of the matter was that you didn’t get transferred to VILE’s Antarctica base by being the creme of the crop. 

It was an extremely unfavorable assignment. Aside from the occasional detainee to monitor, it was exceedingly dull, and these particular detainees were super uninteresting to watch.

Other than the occasional shifting they didn’t move, and they hadn’t talked in hours. The interrogations were the only interesting point, the chilling process was long and tedious.

Dr. Bellum’s truth extractor was far more expedient, but tended to cause brain damage that could render the entire point of the process moot. 

Plus, right now Dr. Bellum was convinced that the truth extractor needed more tweaking since it had failed to get answers from that one ACME agent.

The cooler method was usually better for if you wanted to get the  **_most_ ** information from the person you were interrogating anyway. It didn’t have as much risk of their resistance turning the victim into a vegetable.

Though, there was that time they inadvertently let The Cooler drop to lethal temperatures and wound up having a frostbit coma patient that their cleaners had to ‘take care’ of. So the heater unit was being monitored by the computers now as opposed to manually.

Pretty much everything, from The Cooler to the security, was on an automatic computerized system; which suited those who worked in the Antarctic VILE facility just fine. 

The less time they had to spend outside in the elements manually checking the various things that would otherwise have to be looked at manually, the better.

Really most of what they did was try to distract themselves from the crushing boredom of manning the Antarctic facility by mostly ignoring the surveillance screens in favor of playing video games on the largest monitor.

By now the two detainees had been in the cooler a little over 12 hours, and the plan was to let them chill for another 12. 

No food would be provided, as hunger tended to help encourage cooperation, though they  _ could _ drink the water from the sink if they were so inclined.

Although the water that was pumped to the cooler didn’t really qualify as  **_potable_ ** . It stank like sewage and had a distinct rusty metallic taste.

So it’s no surprise when neither of the captives drink any of the water. You’d have to be dying of thirst to want to drink it.

However, it was odd that they hadn’t said  _ anything _ since the interrogator rattled their cages. Usually even the most stubborn captives grumbled under their breaths.

Oh well, The Cooler got to even the most defiant and stalwart eventually. These two were going to be no different in the end.

* * *

  
  
  


After 12 long and boring hours, two shift changes passed uneventful as usual. 

Now, for the main event.

Everyone at the Antarctica facility was now a buzz with anticipation. Even the VILE faculty was interested in tuning in remotely to watch the proceedings.

The Chief of the facility, and head interrogator, strode confidently forward, in one hand was his briefcase full of  _ implements. _ In his other hand he held his key card at the ready.

In the surveillance room, it was much busier than normal. Every monitor displayed the stoically unexpecting captives, and most of the various workers had crowded around to watch.

Chief interrogator dramatically opens the door.

The Cooler is empty. The surveillance screens suddenly all switch over and display his stunned reaction. Carmen Sandiego’s logo is prominently displayed on The Cooler’s screen.

_How,_ _how could she possibly?!_

She had managed to get in and out of the facility without tripping a single alarm or showing up on any camera!

How had she so thoroughly managed to subvert their systems?!

Then, a worrisome clunk. As all the electrical systems shut down with a grinding whine. 

Carmen Sandiego had just knocked out their  **_whole facility_ ** .

  
  


* * *

  
  
  


The longer VILE remained ignorant of their rescue the better. 

Carmen had told Player to hold off on shutting down the facility until they would discover that Hideo and Lupe were missing anyway.

In the meantime they were hightailing their chartered boat back towards the Panama Canal.

Carmen outlined her plan, “I think we should take you guys with us to our Headquarters, might be too dangerous to send you home while VILE is out to get you.”

Lupe raised an eyebrow, “They call  _ themselves _ vile? That is very on the nose.”

“Villains International League of Evil. I figure you guys deserve to know who exactly is after you.”

Lupe nodded, “Not exactly a subtle name.”

“Yeah, they operate under various guises, stuff like: Valuable Imports, Lavish Exports.” Carmen wrinkles her nose, “Hiding in plain sight, choosing to operate under a smoke screen.”

Hideo turned to Suhara, “Hence why they choose to steal art items and replace them with fakes...suddenly that news item about the return of the Vermeers’ makes a lot more sense.”

Carmen nodded, “Yeah, VILE stole them, but we stole them back.”

Suhara sighed, “I feel I should clarify that I had not yet joined Carmen’s team at the time. Carmen, Zach, Ivy, and Player accomplished that retrieval.”

Hideo frowned, he turned to address Carmen, “How long have you and—” he gave a considerate glance at Zach and Ivy, “your young associates, been fighting this criminal organization?”

Carmen pondered that for a moment, “Uh... _ a while. _ Look, I know we’re—on the younger side, but I think our success rate speaks for itself.”

Zach and Ivy grin widely, though they don’t turn their attention away from navigating the boat.

Lupe crossed her arms, “And what of the police? Can you not go to them at all?”

Carmen sighed, “VILE has agents everywhere, even in organizations like the FBI and Interpol. There’s also the fact that ACME, an organization that has been searching for VILE for  _ 20 years _ can’t seem to get their act together… Player found VILE,  _ accidentally.” _

Hideo nodded solemnly, “Sometimes, the best way to fight against those who hide like ninjas, is to borrow their tactics when necessary.”

“I had Player forward the relevant information anonymously to ACME about the Antarctic VILE facility as soon as we rescued you,” Carmen said, shrugging slightly, “whether or not they can actually get their acts together long enough to take advantage of that is out of my hands.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They travel a lot, there’s some conversations.

After dropping off the boat back at the harbor, they made their way to an airport and quickly boarded a private jet Player had chartered, which dropped them off at Veracruz. 

They quickly made their way to Lupe’s house.

Tensions were high, Ivy and Zach constantly casting furtive glances over their shoulders. Shadowsan found himself wishing yet again for the familiar weight of the Samurai Daimyo. 

Lupe quickly packed up a few bags, and Hideo was surprised to find his stuff had already been relocated nearby, as a precaution Team Red had retrieved them from his hotel before leaving Mexico City.

They then all piled into a van Player had acquired for them, Shadowsan couldn’t help but notice the van’s diplomatic plates.

Shadowsan wondered briefly how Player had managed to secure such a thing on short notice, but resolved to file it alongside ‘forges passports’ in the ever growing folder of things Player can do.

It got them quickly through the airport checkpoints as they headed off to board yet another plane Player had chartered.

Suhara explained to Hideo, “I didn’t think it wise to allow your things to be deemed abandoned. Do not worry about your hotel room, Player has already checked you out of the hotel’s system.”

Hideo couldn’t help his surprised look, “You have certainly thought of seemingly everything.”

“Seemingly?”

“What will my work think of my extended absence?” Hideo pondered, “Or what of Lupe’s obligations?”

“I’ve not taken a vacation in a while.” Lupe shrugged, “I can call my manager and say I’m going to a training resort, they can work it into my storyline as me preparing to take on a big opponent if need be.”

Hideo sighed, “I suppose I can call my museum and make my apologies—try to think of a reasonable explanation.”

Player piped up, “The teams phones are all secure and untraceable, and I can make the call look like it came from anywhere in the world.”

Lupe looked at Player’s image on the laptop, “You are truly a wonder.”

Carmen hummed in agreement, “Once that’s done, Player, you really ought to take a break.”

Player laughed which turned into a yawn, “Yeah probably— I couldn’t rest while Nakamura-San and Ms. Peligro were both still in danger.”

Lupe cooed, “Awe Player, sweetie you can call me Lupe, alright?” Player nodded shyly and Lupe continued, “I will make the call now so that it is off both of our plates.”

With that, Lupe took her call at the back of the plane as Hideo addressed Player, “It is probably best if I email my work, it will be easier. Plus with the time difference I don’t believe anyone would be awake.”

Player nodded, “I’ll open up a secure email channel for you. Ivy, do you have the trackpad extension that can be used to draw the characters? The keyboard of this laptop doesn’t have the most friendly input for that.”

“Oh yeah,” Ivy said, plugging in a track pad into the laptop, “All connected.” She hands over the tablet pen to Hideo, “Here you go Mr—Uh I mean, Nakamura-San.”

Hideo smiles as he accepts the pen, “No need for the formality, please I want you all to feel free to call me Hideo.”

Player smiles, “All set up, just log into your email and that’s it, it’ll send whatever you want on the secure network.” Player yawns again, energy waning now that the adrenaline of the mission had worn off.

Carmen peered over at the video of Player, “Go to sleep Player, we can manage to get back to headquarters ourselves once the plane lands.”

“Alrighty Red, signing off.” And with that, the video screen disappears from the laptop screen. 

Now displayed where the video screen had been was the white baseball cap with the upside down triangle logo from before, underscored by large red text reading: ‘OFFLINE’.

Hideo manages a plausible story of his sudden change of plans to offer his work, feeling justified in describing his plight as a ‘family emergency’ being that it did involve Suhara, and felt fairly like an emergency.

He sent off the email, hoping that his explanation would suffice to explain his sudden absence. 

Lupe returns back to her seat in the main cabin, “There, that went great actually, my manager is very understanding…” she glances at the laptop, “Oh, I missed wishing him a good night, I hope Player is sleeping?”

Carmen nodded, “Yeah, poor guy. He’s been scouring the internet pretty much all day.”

Zach stretched and yawned, “Practically no down time,” he agreed, “He was the only one who could search while we were on the plane down to Mexico after all. Not to mention coordinating all our transport.”

Lupe made a sympathetic noise, “I hope he didn’t overstrain himself, and the same goes for you all.”

“To be honest the security at the Antartic VILE facility was downright woeful when it got to the actual ground works.” Carmen explains, “The real difficulty was in figuring out you guys were taken  _ there _ in the first place; that was all Player.”

“I can hardly wait to meet him.”

Carmen blinked, then chuckled nervously.

“Uh.” Carmen twiddled her thumbs awkwardly, “Player isn’t based from our headquarters, he still lives with his parents—in Canada.”

Lupe blinked in surprise, “I see, I thought the whole team worked from your headquarters. I suppose I assumed he was at least located nearby.”

“Nope. In fact, I’ve only ever talked to him remotely. Never met him in person, none of us have.”

Hideo raised a disbelieving eyebrow, “Do his parents know what he does on his computers all day?”

“Well, he’s already long since graduated online high school, and is now enrolled in college as a Junior, so mostly they think he’s doing course work—that or recreation.”

Ivy chuckled at the shocked looks of their guests, “Are you really that surprised? Player is wicked smart.”

Zach nodded, “Yeah, and alongside that he’s been white-hat hacking since before he met any of us.”

Lupe laughed, “I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised.”

Hideo tilted his head, “White Hat hacking?” He gestured towards Player’s logo on the laptop screen, “Is that anything to do with this logo?”

Carmen shrugs, “White-hat hacking just means that you test security systems in order to report the weaknesses to the relevant people so they can fix them.”

She considered the logo, “The white cap is a reference to this occupation. Player has a version of this logo for me where I’m represented by a red hat.”

Lupe nodded, “I have heard of people who break into security systems to test them before, but not to the level I understand you all undertake.”

Carmen laughs, “Yeah, oh the stories we could tell.”

“I hope to hear those soon, for now I feel we should all rest.”

Shadowsan nodded solemnly, “Indeed, there will be plenty of time to go over the particulars after we’ve all had the chance to rest at HQ, I believe Player has a slide show presentation of the various schemes of VILE we’ve helped to thwart.”

Ivy yawns, “Yeah, with pictures courtesy of Red Drone. I can hardly wait to show off all the gadgets I’ve made too.”

Lupe smiles, “I look forward to it.”

  
  
  
  



	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emotional highs and lows. Nightmares in dreams and in real life.

Arriving back at the headquarters after many fraught and tense hours was a bizarre feeling to be sure.

Though both Lupe and Hideo had a few moments of amusement at the fact that the building used to be a warehouse for Carmen Brand Outerwear.

Hideo especially seemed bemused, “There is hiding in plain sight...and there is  _ this.”  _ Hideo turned towards Suhara and asked, “Who’s idea was it to set your headquarters here?”

Suhara allowed himself a small smile, “Player’s.”

Lupe laughed, “Sí, this is a pretty great hiding spot actually, nobody would believe it.”

Carmen nodded, “Yeah it seems too silly to be true, and so it actually becomes a really smart place to set up our base.”

Ivy agreed, “That, and it’s got loads of room to set up stuff like my workshop, I swear there's enough room to park a blimp in there.”

Zach chuckled, “It’s wicked huge.”

Suhara led Hideo over to the room he had claimed and set up in the traditional Japanese style.

“I insist you take my room while you are here.”

“Where will you sleep?”

“I will work something out with Zack if need be. We have a few sleeping bags around and a pull-out couch.”

Hideo shook his head, “Suhara, I would feel better if you were in here with me. Though, please do not feel obligated if you would prefer otherwise—”

Suhara’s face softened, “No, indeed. I would rest better if I could sleep close enough to reassure myself of your continued safety.”

The two brothers smile softly at each other and in the first time in a long time embrace in a warm hug.

Meanwhile with Lupe, Carmen offered up her room, “Ivy and I can bunk together, we’ve already agreed. So don’t feel bad about taking my room.”

“Gracias, Carmen. I appreciate it.”

“De nada,” Said Carmen easily, “least I can do.”

“Promise me you’ll get proper rest before going after those VILE criminals, I don’t want you going after them when you’re exhausted.”

“I promise, I doubt anybody on my team would let me go out without at least a few days to recover. Least of all, Player, and he’s the one who books the travel arrangements.

“That’s good, I’ll talk to you more in the morning, now go rest.”

Carmen smiled as Lupe went in to settle into her room.

Ivy grinned widely as Carme entered her room, “I’ve never had a sleepover before, I don’t count Zack because he’s my brother, and at the hotels we all had our own beds. So this will be a new one.”

“It’s my first sleepover too, wow I only just realized that.” Carmen smiled whimsically, “The first time I even learned about sleepovers is from watching TV when I finally got off the island.”

“Oh wow, I didn’t even realize!” Ivy said excitedly, “Sometimes I forget just how much pop culture you missed out on growing up. Well we can finally check off ‘first sleepovers’ off both of our lists.”

“Well that is somewhat of a silver lining to this otherwise very stressful day I suppose.” Carmen shrugged, “And I can’t think of anybody I’d rather have my first sleepover with than you Ivy.”

“Aww, right back at you Carm.”

  
  


* * *

  
  


Hideo woke suddenly in a cold sweat, gasping for breath. A nightmare, the precise details fading quickly now that he was awake, but the fear and  **_the cold_ ** lingered.

A lamp clicked on and Hideo saw a concerned looking Suhara cautiously approach the bedside.

“You’re safe, easy now.” Suhara reassured softly, “You were just having a nightmare.”

Hideo nodded his understanding, still shivering slightly from the nightmare induced feeling of cold. Suhara thoughtfully tugged his blankets around him, all the while reassuring him of his safety.

Eventually the phantom cold ebbed away and Hideo sighed in relief, “Thank you Suhara.”

“Of course,” Suhara said easily, “no need for you to thank me…” he grimaced, “It is due to your ties to me that VILE took you—”

“NO Suhara, do not blame yourself! You took all proper precaution to prevent harm coming to me, this is VILE’s doing!”

“You do not know the full story,” Suhara’s head dropped in shame, “I used to be a part of VILE school faculty. I was one of them.”

Hideo drew in a sharp gasp, “I...did not know that. However, you are no longer a part of them, you bear no direct responsibility for their actions.” He leaned back thoughtfully against his pillows, “Is Lupe in anyway tied to VILE?”

“No, not anything of that sort. Though she did wrestle, alongside Carmen, against one of the VILE facility members. That is what probably put her in their crosshairs.”

“So you see how VILE kidnapping me might not be even entirely due to you being my brother? They may just have taken me to interrogate for information about Carmen?” He raised his hand to forestall Suhara interrupting his train of thought, “Or perhaps ultimately as a part of a bait for a trap. Lupe speculated earlier to me when we briefly conversed in the cells, that they wanted Carmen to attempt to rescue us.”

Suhara hummed in thought, “I suppose? Though if your capture was meant to be part of a trap, they didn’t do a very good job of securing the facility that they took you both to.”

“Probably didn’t expect you all to be able to take down their security. Didn’t Player say they had doubled it, and it was now  _ 40 layers _ ? Perhaps they had thought it impenetrable.”

“That is entirely possible.” Suhara acknowledged with a slight nod, “It would not be the first time VILE’s self-assurance in their own greatness led to disaster for them.”

“Somehow I am not at all surprised to hear that. What time is it by the way; how long have I been asleep?”

“It is nearing 8 o'clock in the morning, you have been sleeping for nearly 10 hours.”

“Heavens.” Hideo said blinking in shock, “I suppose I should rise and have breakfast then.”

“If you feel up for it.” Suhara agreed, “Or I could bring you some breakfast if you require more rest.”

“No, I believe I can manage.” Hideo said confidently, “After that I suppose I should check to see if my museum replied to my email.”

* * *

  
  
  


Luckily, Hideo found that his hasty excuse had been accepted without question, in fact his direct superior had even stressed that he should absolutely take whatever time he needed to deal with his family emergency and that everybody at the museum board of directors passed on their well-wishes.

He noted, as he closed out the e-mail client, the corner of the screen Player’s video window still just displayed his white baseball cap logo alongside the underwritten message of: OFFLINE.

Hideo turned and addressed Carmen, “My museum sends me their well-wishes.”

“That’s good.” Carmen said happily, “Are you done with the laptop then? I need it to call Player.”

“Yes, of course. Here is your laptop.”

”Thank you.”

Carmen took the laptop and frowned slightly, “Huh, Player is still offline.” She typed something into the laptop and a sound not unlike a phone ringing emitted from the laptop. 

It played the ringing sound several times before Carmen input another command into the computer. She looked agitated, “He’s never been offline this long before.”

Zach walked over to peer over Carmen’s shoulder, “He’s probably still resting like you told him to.”

Carmen shook her head, “No, something is  _ wrong.  _ I—I don’t… it’s been like 12 hours since I told him to rest… and he’s never not answered when I’ve called before. Not  _ once. _ ”

A deep pit of dread settled in everyone’s stomachs.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *evil laugh*


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> VILE’s attempt to find Player (and presumably capture him) has really set the team on edge. Now it seems like half of VILE is in Ontario searching for Team Carmen’s hacker. Hideo and Lupe don’t know what to make of it all.

The fear and desolation in Carmen’s face was heartbreaking. Zach and Ivy were doing their best to try and calm her, but were having little success. It probably didn’t help that they were both extremely worried themselves.

Suddenly, Carmen’s phone rang, she tentatively picked it up. “Yes?”

The look of relief on her face was nearly palatable,  _ “Player.” _ She set the phone on the table after switching it to speaker, “Why didn’t you answer my laptop call?” She asked, sounding fearful, “Is everything okay?”

“Sorry Red, VILE is in Ontario, I think the security set up at the Antarctic base was all part of a scheme to find—well me.”

“What? Are you safe? Do you—”

“Easy, easy. I’m fine Carmen. They only managed to backtrack to the American embassy here in Ontario, it’s where my mom used to work. That’s how I hacked into it as my router in the first place. I swapped one of my mom’s flash drives for a Trojan Horse back in the day.”

_ So Player accessed everything via an embassy router _ , Suhara thought,  _ That helps explain so much. The diplomatic plates… the false identities and passports. _

“Wow, so they think you’re at the embassy?”

“Well they probably think I’m a whole team or organization? Certainly sent enough operatives here to give me that impression at any rate. Probably they’re still under the impression that you’re working with or for ACME, because they pickpocketed Chase’s ACME ID card off of you.”

“Who knew Paper Star managing to lift that card off me during a fight would turn out to be such a boon. So you’re safe?”

“For now. I've got to lay off the hacking through that channel though, and it will take a while to forge another one...which I don’t think I should do right now. At least not while VILE is all over Ontario like stink on a skunk.”

“Probably not,” Carmen agreed with a sigh, “At least they didn’t get you.”

Suhara growled, “That was what this was all about. All misdirection. They set up the Antarctic facility with multiple levels of security just so they could use it to backtrack on Player. Probably thought it couldn’t be hacked in time for us to stage a rescue without compromising the hack’s location.”

Player let out a sigh, sounding discontent, “They nearly succeeded. If I didn’t bounce the signal through so many VPN’s they would have back traced me faster than I could catch on. As it was I severed the connection and scrambled it just before they narrowed it down to the embassy.”

Carmen nodded to herself, “So, a very close call. Too close.”

“It was tense for a bit there, so I didn’t really get a lot of rest unfortunately.” Player yawned, “I had to scramble pretty much right after you hung up. Luckily, I’ve got the protocol pre-programmed for the most part. Though, I had to sever all the stuff at HQ from my set up manually. Anyway, that’s why you couldn’t call me with the laptop.”

“You had me so worried for a minute there!” Carmen admonished, “Why didn’t you call me earlier?”

“Cause I only just managed to get a burner phone. I knew you wouldn’t recognize the number and that you’d be wary about answering. So, I waited to call until you tried to call me first. Hoping you’d guess it was probably me, and pick up.”

“Yeah, that’s probably fair. What are we going to now, we can’t just let VILE get away with this. Who knows who they’ll go after just to try to get at me indirectly?”

Ivy piped up, “Well we know a lot of them are in Ontario, so maybe we can trace a few of them back to where their new headquarters are?” She shrugged, “I dunno what we’d  _ do _ with the information, but...I mean, it’s a start.”

Zach nodded, “Better than what I was thinking probably.”

“What’s that?”

Zach shrugged, “We tip off ACME that VILE is up to something in Ontario. If they have a leak or they bungle it up, it would at least probably spook VILE away from Ontario? That way Player can more safely work on his new hacking channels.”

Suhara hummed in thought, “There are altogether too many possibilities at play. For example: if we do send ACME to Ontario and that’s  _ exactly _ what the VILE agents they sent there are prepared to deal with. We could very well be sending ACME into a precarious position.”

Carmen pondered aloud, “If only Jules was still in ACME, I would ask her what she thinks I should do...”

Zach sat down on the couch, “Didn’t you say Chase was coming around to realizing what Jules already has?”

Carmen made a so-so hand gesture, “He’s getting there, I think I’ve made some headway with him at any rate.”

Player chimed in, “You could still call Julia if you wanted to. She might be able to help even though she’s not with ACME.”

“She left the agent life, I don’t want to drag her out of her new career and potentially get her in real trouble...whether that be with ACME or VILE.”

Hideo coughed politely, “Excuse me, may I ask a question?”

Carmen nodded in the affirmative, so Hideo continued, “I just wondered what other law enforcement agencies—like INTERPOL think of VILE. Are they even aware it exists?”

Player murmured, “I’m pretty sure all the major law enforcement agencies have moles put there by VILE. We’re on our own here.”

Hideo did his best to tamp down any outward display of fear. He wasn’t sure how successful he was at it. The mere thought of VILE, _ infiltrated into every major law enforcement agency _ , it was almost too much to bear.

How could a team as small as Carmen’s hope to stand against such a force? How had they managed to do so for so long?

The questions and doubts swirled around his head the conversation continued even as he wandered into the neighboring room to try to catch his breath. 

After a long while of sitting at the kitchen table by himself, Lupe walked up to sit next to him. 

Lupe leveled an understanding glance in his direction, “It’s a lot to take in, isn’t it?” 

Hideo offered up a small smile of commiseration, “It is indeed. I’m not quite sure what to make of it myself.”

Lupe raised an eyebrow, “Did you not know at all that this was what your brother was doing?”

“I did not know the true scope of it until now. I knew it involved stealing from thieves to return goods to their proper owners...but going against a whole global criminal organization? That, I found out at the same time as you did.”

“Wow, if it’s any consolation? You’re handling the news about as well as could be expected. All things considered.”

“I just feel so helpless.” Hideo said with a sigh, “If only there was something I could do to help.”

“Yeah, me too...maybe Carmen can come up with a way for us to help?”

“I suppose it’s worth a try.”

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact: The family name Nakamura is the original Where in the World family name for Suhara!


End file.
